Oh My Yards

Late last night I thought maybe I’d rather keep that big orchid tree in the front yard. 

Looked out the window this morning, not even a full day after we gave the go-ahead, and too late! 

They already had it half down. Guess I was wrong about them not starting until next week!

Don’t know if work is slow or they are just efficient, but by the end of the day most of the greenscape was gone. Fortunately, when hubby saw what was happening this morning, he put big notes on the couple of plants I wanted to keep. Just in case the guys doing the work hadn’t gotten the word…

 After - same view as below ⬇️

I keep imagining the look on our long-time gardeners face when he comes by on Monday for his weekly visit. Boy, is he in for a surprise!

Before

Back section of the backyard looks very close to done. Just needs the cementy stuff between the pavers to set and the drip lines to go in along the fence.

Paving the front section is progressing. 

The narrow bit between the 2 yards will have gravel and stepping stones to help with water runoff. I’m guessing that will be the last thing they finish before it’s all done. 

More! Construction

Tuesday, Day 4, was paver delivery day.

Giant truck - I wouldn’t want to maneuver that on residential streets - agile forklift, and about a third of the back section had pavers installed by end of the day. 

Top row is Tuesday; bottom is Wednesday.

Today was more pavers and the start of border trim in the back, and final leveling of the front section so they can start laying pavers tomorrow.

And… we’d asked the contractor for ideas on redoing the front yard, thinking we’d get an estimate and maybe do it in January. 

 What it looks like now

But his price was good (less than we expected) and we liked the design he and Chat-GPT came up with, sooooo…

construction starts as soon as the backyard is done. 

 The low wall on the right will also be on the left and partially up the driveway.

A big positive was that we can reuse the slate from the current walkway in the design. 

It’s exciting but nerve-wracking too. Hope it turns out like we’re picturing.

Tracking the color changes in my toe. So annoying.

Pets, Plants, Pain and Construction

Coco has figured out that people laps are warm and comfy. We also - finally! - found a treat she likes. Hooray for Greenies Dental Treats! 

Ginger had 3 teeth pulled and has recovered well. She still won’t allow Coco in ‘her’ bedroom - or leave that bedroom at all - so Pop and I spend a couple of hours each day up there with her. Hoping she’ll get over it??

Kicked a shoe, broke a (different) toe. Owwwwwwwwwww!

Yard construction continues… 

Today was for leveling (by hand, on their knees…😳) and compacting the soil, 

connecting the remaining downspouts 

and finishing most of the piping. 

Pavers should be here tomorrow!

$4 aloe I found at a thrift shop.😊

Went to water one plant and ended up repotting a bunch*. 

This bromeliad was so waterlogged it was actually floating. I didn’t realize the store pot had no drainage holes. Hope I didn’t leave it too long. 

Christmas cacti were all root, no dirt (rootbound) so put them in bigger pots. 

Prayer plant didn’t like its self-watering pot so it got a redo too.

Put this Swiss Cheese Monstera leaf in water back in March, new roots are finally big enough to pot. 

If it survives, I’ll probably put it back with the mother plant to make the pot look fuller.

I loved the flowers on this African violet but the mom plant was a hot mess. Planted these 3 cut-offs and tossed the rest in the trash. Life’s too short for problem plants (and most other problems too.)

* I need a plant diary or I’ll never remember what I did when.

Progressing

Day 2 of the yard remodel - 

in the back section, the hole is filled 

and the piping for rain runoff is going in 

along with connectors for the downspouts (or whatever they’re called…)

 Wide slab on the right, before the trim

The narrow connector 

had part of the old cement pad trimmed and trenches are underway for the runoff pipes. 

Front section still has bricks 

and debris to get rid of, 

but that should be taken care of on Monday because…

Tiny tail-less lizard runs into our path each time we go out the back door. 

Pavers are being delivered on Tuesday! 

They’ll be a combo of Toscana and Bella, 

with 6x9” Mocha blocks around the edges. 

The boss estimates they’ll be done a week from Wednesday but at the rate they’re moving, it might be sooner!

Garden of Stars

I’m still not thrilled with the black and copper print for Garden of Stars so, since we were coming home by way of Simi today, we made a quick-ish stop at Quilty Pleasures. 

The hexi dots on the left is not usually my thing but I love this. And may have bought all that was left on the bolt…

Anyone surprised I bought more than just the black fabric* I needed? Hubby even got involved, bringing bolts to the counter ‘just in case’ I might need like them. 

I’ll make a test block to be sure, but I think I’m going to like this Steampunk Halloween fabric much better. 

This is Teena’s fault. She told me about an online sale at Jordan fabrics and how could I resist? Everything except the collection of blue fat quarters ⬆️ was part of a one-pound mystery bag of batik ‘leftovers’. I love a sale and a mystery, plus was curious if the cuts would be scraps or actually useful. 

Most are useful sizes and only a couple are colors I really don’t like. Lots of possibilities - maybe use the top bunch in a bright scrappy quilt or the green fat quarters (bottom left) in a HST project. Would I buy the mystery bag again? Maybe if it was on sale…

*Simi shop yardage. 

Breaking Ground

We’ve been planning a new project since before we took Jac home (July 20-ish). The contractor had given us a start date 2 weeks from now, but they finished a job early and would we like to start sooner… like in 2 days? Yes please!

Before

The back yard has gone through a lot of changes over the years, the most recent when Pop put in an above ground pool for the grands. Turns out there were a LOT of roots hiding under the dirt - he had to dig down over 18” to get past them.

Now that the grands have moved away, the pool is gone and it’s time to replace it with something attractive but low maintenance. 

Demolition started this morning and tomorrow we’re shopping for cement pavers that will go from house to fence. The contractor is also connecting all the downspouts to underground piping so rain coming off the roof will go directly out to the street. Hooray!

My favorite part so far is the cleaned out connector between the 2 yard sections. The hibiscus on the left ⬆️ is probably 40 years old - it was here when we moved in. I feel a little sad to see it go, but it’s filled with icky morning glory vines and not growing or flowering much anymore. Time for a change. 

Timeline for completion is 3 weeks and counting …